Management of Change (MOC) is part of every effective process and pipeline safety program. Its purpose is to manage risk introduced by implementing planned changes to a facility, pipeline, process or to the organization itself.
To accomplish this, the MOC process touches almost every aspect of an organization which provides additional benefits to those looking to get more from their safety program.
An effective Management of Change (MOC) system provides:
visibility of the quantity and type of changes
visibility of the total level of risk being considered
visibility of the level of work and where the bottlenecks are
a mechanism to bring together the tools and practices across multiple disciplines
a process for cross functional teams to work together on changes
a place for all information about each change to be stored
an audit trail of what happened during each change
a collaborative behavior for working together to implement changes safely
These benefits are available when companies consider their MOC process as a system rather than just a procedure that needs to be followed when changes are made.
The MOC process is unique and one of only a few that crosses functional silos that are commonly found within organizations. In many ways, an MOC process measures the pulse of change, the level of risk, and amount of anticipated work across an organization. These measurements are invaluable to keeping people safe and companies profitable.
Plan-Do-Check-Act Questions:
In what way has your MOC program improved visibility of what is happening in your organization?
Which benefits would most help your organization achieve your desired safety program outcomes?
What obstacles are in the way of realizing greater benefits from your MOC program?
What step can you take to remove one of these obstacles?